DRUG DOG RESCUED FROM DEATH ROW

Three years ago, Roxy was on death row in a Rotorua pound. And though
she still spends a lot of time behind bars, her future is looking bright.

One of eight prison drug dogs nationwide, the labrador-staffordshire
cross and her handler Marc Kilmister spend their days in jails between
New Plymouth and Wellington searching for drugs coming in, and hunting
out secret stashes inside.

With an estimated 84 per cent of prisoners having had some form of
drug addiction, it is an uphill battle.

"We can't stop everything, we can't be here seven days a week, 24
hours a day, but we do stop a lot. Roxy was one day away from getting
the needle in Rotorua and now she's on a real winner," Mr Kilmister
said.

Police-trained, Roxy searches cells and prison buildings - uncovering
hiding places missed by the guards - as well as visitors, their cars,
and staff, on a random basis.

Mr Kilmister said even Roxy's presence acted as a deterrent - he had
seen visitors' cars approaching the prison gates turn around after
spotting her.

On top of the more traditional transport via a visitor, drugs had
arrived in dead birds thrown over the perimeter fence, pasted into
magazines, or hidden in kettles or inside the soles of shoes for prisoners.

With improvements to the visitor system, perimeter fence and the
introduction of the drug dogs about eight years ago, drug use at
Wanganui's Kaitoke Prison had dropped from about 30 per cent to 10 per
cent.

And correcting a common myth, Mr Kilmister said the drug dogs did not
end up being junkies. "We make sure they don't get to the drugs. We
use rags with traces of drugs for training and for a reward Roxy gets
to play. We have a tug-of-war with a dirty old tea towel."